L.A. Short Stories

We biked, roller bladed and scootered from Venice to Santa Monica beach. We escaped the exorbitant parking fees close to the beach by going further inward. We also found a side street with more affordable food – Indian, Mexican and NY style pizza by the slice. Venice was grittier than it’s tonier sister, Santa Monica but all throughout the Pacific coast were an overwhelming array of choices for everyone to have fun in a major, major way.

People were practicing slacklining, climbing ropes and there was this:

Graceful as monkeys, they swung with complete, wild abandon while the skateboarders have a galactic, interplanetary blast against the dramatic sun, itself showing its own prowess.

Visiting the schools on my list is proving more challenging than expected because of many unanswered emails but we just forge on. We were able to drop by Urban Homeschoolers where we met Bruce who introduced us to their community-based learning center. Their branch was based on the Waldorf way and when we met him, he was getting a box of sugar cubes for their multiplication activity.

We were lucky enough to visit the Incubator School on the day parents can visit their kids, and though we weren’t able to see the classes, we were introduced to the school that hopes to nurture entrepreneurs. The students start their own businesses.

We tumbled into the arms of Danny in downtown L.A. We juggled the schedule so that we could attend the rehearsals of the GMCLA, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles which was such an amazing treat being a broadway musical lover.

We are grateful to Danny because he made it possible for us to visit the Walk of the Stars in Hollywood.

Before we were delivered into the muscled biceps of Danny, we made a random stopover at Oxnard Beach Park for a picnic right after our favorite staple, Goodwill thrift store. The park had a big playground surrounded by picnic tables and beyond that was the wide, wide beach where benches were lovingly dedicated to people who had passed away and where seagulls left footprints on the sand.